How Many Modes of protection from hacking

Modes of protection from hacking

There are most widespread means of account-hacking and ways to prevent them.

The Password-theft
Strange though, most often the account-theft happens because the player himself informs the malefactor of his access-data. You may have given your login and password to your friend whom you have quarreled afterwards. The offended friend can steal your character or hand over access-data to someone another.

Though in internet or in our game it is easy to make virtual friends, you should beware of them. Consider isn’t someone trying to gain your confidence in order to get the data concerning your account?

Sometimes a malefactor addresses to the player on behalf of an official of support service. Remember that the real official of support service would never ask you to tell your password, so ignore such requests.

If you play in a public place (game club or internet-café) ensure that nobody is standing behind you while you are entering your password and always disable the access to your computer while you are off for some time.

The hacking of e-mail box or account on the other site
The malefactor can make an attempt to hack your e-mail box. Getting an access to your e-mail, he would use the “New password” page of our site and intercept the message with password-replacement reference and you’ll be left with nothing.

Unfortunately, often it is far easier to hack the e-mail box than our game-server. Therefore use only approved and trustworthy mail services and never hand over the access-data to your e-mail. We also recommend despite the time-economy not to save the password and always type it and login entering the system.

When you register on the other sites don’t use as login or password your game-data, it also concerns unofficial sites of AWplanet and clan-sites. Not so much because of possible malicious intent of site-keepers as because their security measures might be noticeably poorer than our.

The Password fitting
Some malefactors fit the passwords to accounts that are of interest to them by sorting out. We have the protection from such actions on our site, but the possibility of fitting password and login still remains. And the more he knows about the easier to him would be to find out the data.

In order to minimize the risk do not reveal your account-name to anyone (it shouldn’t coincide with your character name) and use complicated password, which is difficult to fit. Some ideas to invent a difficult password:

Alternate capital and lower-case letters in random order
Use figures instead of letters – e.g. “3” instead of “E” and “1” instead of “I”
Try to type some word with the keyboard layout of other language. e.g. Russian word “Pезультат” will look like “Htpekmnfn”
The ideal password is a random sequence of figures and letters, e.g. 8EHnL4K8

The trojan program
The trojan program is another way to steal your account. Yielding the stranger’s promises you download and launch some useful utility or mini-game. That is the “trojan” settles into action and is able to send any kind of your data to the malefactor or change your game-password. Not to catch up a “trojan” perform the following recommendations:

Do not download and activate the programs from sites that are unknown to you.
Install an antivirus program and update it regularly.
Check on the content of viruses all the downloaded from internet programs.

There are some popular programs which would help you to protect your computer:

The Doctor Web antivirus – http://www.drweb.ru
The AVP antivirus – http://www.avp.ru
The Firewall-program ZoneAlarm – http://www.zonealarm.com
The AdAware program which detects “trojans” and spy-programs – http://www.lavasoft.com

The hacking of computer
The malefactor may hack your computer. His aim is to get some personal data that are stored on your hard disc. He may reach his aim by using the hole in your operating system.

To get into your computer the malefactor must know your IP-address. Each computer connected with internet has its own unique IP-address. It looks like 152.168.0.15. Your IP-address may be revealed if you use programs like ICQ or IRC, launch clients of P2P-nets. Knowing your IP-address, hacker can get an access to the files through the security-hole in your system. To avoid this keep the following recommendations:

Download and install your operating system updates regularly
Install firewall-program which would disable the access to your computer from internet
Allow access only for those applications that your trust completely
For the game you should open of the following ports: 21, 80, 443 or 2049
Don’t leave your computer on for a long time (e.g. during the night)
Otherwise your put it under a threat of consecutive hack

Some hackers scan all the computers throughout on the presence of security-holes and infect them with viruses and trojan programs, the more a computer is in internet, the bigger a risk of infection.

Restrict the net-access to your computer, don’t enable access to catalogs and especially to hard discs.
IP-address protection

In favor of security we recommend to install the IP-address protection. It means that access to the game and site would be permitted only from those IP-addresses that you install. To install this protection use the “IP-address protection” page. Here you can enter from one to four pairs of “IP-address/masks” which correspond to the addresses of computers by which you enter the game or site.

The IP-address of your computer may be changed and you won’t be able to enter the game. After any attempt of access from “dangerous” IP-addresses you’ll get on your e-mail a message with reference to the page on which you can change the protection-settings. This page can be used only by you yourself, the malefactor wouldn’t get on it.

If you are sure that you yourself were entering from the “dangerous” IP-address, add to the IP-address list and continue the game. If you suspect that an attempt of account-hacking took place immediately inform the support service. And, please, do not forget to indicate the IP-address involved in attempt.

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How To Avoid Computer Viruses?

Computer viruses are as old as the personal computer. So, in order to prevent computer viruses, every PC user needs to acquire determined computer skills. For example, how to install programs, make software upgrades, configure a firewall or how to setup an anti-spyware program.
All of these skills will help you avoid computer viruses. However, if we want to fight our enemy effectively, we need to know what it is.
What Is A Computer Virus?
A computer virus is a software program that has been created by a human. The intention of the virus is to cause chaos and destruction to the computer. Although most of the cases it is limited to the software, there have been some instances in which a virus had damaged a piece of hardware.

Fortunately, hardware damage is very scarce. The only way in which a virus could damage a piece of equipment is by exploiting a glitch in the programming. For example, it could slow down the speed of the processor's fan. That way the processor overheats and melts down.
How To Prevent Computer Viruses
How can we prevent computer viruses is the big question that millions of users make everyday. The first rule in this eternal battle for computer security is to have an up-to-date antivirus. Notice the word up-to-date. That means that your antivirus software needs to be updated every day. Viruses are always appearing, so do not sub estimate them. In less than 24 hours your antivirus could be obsolete.

The next important rule is still related to actualizations. Although you may have your antivirus updated, that doesn't mean that there are other weaknesses in your system. As a matter of fact, there isn't an unbreachable computer. Even the most expensive system can be cracked by an expert.

So, it doesn't matter if you have a guardian dog tied at the front entrance of your house if your windows are open. That's why the rest of your software needs to be updated. The first piece of software that needs to be actualized is the operating system.

Almost eighty percent of the world uses Microsoft software. Hence, it is the favorite victim of black hat hackers. Configure your Windows configuration so it can make automatic actualizations that can prevent computer viruses.

The same thing goes for productivity software like Microsoft Office or even entertainment software like computer games. All software is under constant changes once it is delivered into the market. Consider the millions of possible configurations that a computer program needs to affront once it is introduced.

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Is My Computer Safe From Hackers

Is A Hacker Is Using Your Computer

A good friend of mine called me one day and told me his computer was running particularly slow and the odd thing was it was worse in the evening. I took a look at his computer and found that someone had got into it and was storing large (I mean Large) amounts of Pornography, Stolen Software, Music and Videos, on it. Most "Hackers" are not looking to do something to your computer that you will immediately be aware of. They are looking for what is called "staging areas" where they can store things for distribution or later use. Can you imagine how my friend felt once I showed him what was on his computer! This happens all the time. There are organizations out there who are paid by the Entertainment Industry, the Government, and other institutions who are looking for this type of issue. If they locate these things on your computer, trying to prove that you had nothing to do with it could be a pretty difficult thing to do.

Are My Computers Safe From Hackers? 

The meaning of the term "HACKER" has really changed over the years.  Early on anyone who was considered a "HACKER" was someone who new the intricate workings of computers and various technology.  Someone who was considered to be a guru at what they did whether it be a programmer who wrote software or someone who knew everything there was to know about a particular Operating System.  These day's the moment someone hears the word "HACKER" it conjures up many thoughts and images.  Some people imagine a teenager sitting home writing programs to break into business computers or their school.  Others may imagine someone who attempts to access online computer systems such as Banks or Stores to commit fraud and make off with millions of dollars.  The fact is, all the above are pretty much true images of a HACKER.  It just depends on who it applies to!

What Can Hackers Do?

A few years back I'm sure we all remember hearing or reading about what websites were defaced that given week.  This in itself can be embarrassing for the website owner and was very prevalent.  It's not that this sort of thing does not happen anymore but it is eclipsed but the more serious things that take place.  Banks being defrauded by unscrupulous employees, Online Stores having their patrons credit card information ripped off, and a host of other more serious actions.
The reality is that as network systems become more complex and widespread, the opportunities for those who wish to compromise or HACK computers become much greater.  Take a look at this Threat and Trend graphic.  It will layout just a few entry points and opportunities for hackers!
As a home or small business computer user there are many ways you could be at risk.  Many people store their financial information on their computers using a simple spreadsheet or document, or maybe something like Quicken / QuickBooks accounting.  Many people store all their logins and passwords in plain text documents on their computers.  How many people store information regarding their medical conditions on their computers.  Computers are there to make our lives more simple and provide us with a means to store all of our most important information.  What if this information were in the hands of someone else?  What could happen;

• Is it possible for someone to assume my identity if they access the above information;
• Can someone find out what all of my logins and passwords are;
• As a business owner do I need to be concerned about corporate fraud;
• Is it possible for a hacker to steal my companies intellectual property;
• Can an unauthorized person access my company's sales information including clients and prospects;
• And, as a home user, or small business owner, could I be held liable for something someone else does with my computer?

The answer to all the above is, yes!  If your computers are not properly configured, kept up-to-date with patches, or secured against the most common types of attacks you are at risk!
Take a look at the following Threat Spectrum to get an idea of the potential risks!
There are new vulnerabilities for computers found almost everyday.  If you are not diligent in keeping your computers up to date and secured you can expect (it's just a matter of time), that in one way or another your system will be compromised.
Over the years, we have seen just about everything under the sun when performing small, medium, or large computer security assessments;

• Home computers being used to relay information and stolen software;
• Business computers being used to store stolen software as well as distributing it;
• Employees using their work computers to run businesses such as pornography sites;
• Ex-employees still accessing their work computers because of the lack of security;
• People trying to extort or intimidate others using information they gathered from unsecured computers;
• The potential for civil and criminal legal action against users for participating in malicious tasks;

and that's just to name a few of the things we have seen!
Don't underestimate what can happen to you.  Human beings are very risk adverse however we are also very bad at determining the real risks.  Many people are afraid to fly in planes but have no qualms about climbing up a 10 foot later to change old ceiling fan without cutting the electricity first. You have more of a chance climbing that ladder, getting shocked, falling and breaking your neck than going down on a plane. This seems to apply to many methods of analyzing risks.
Think about this. In testing where we placed out-of-the-box computers on the Internet it takes approximately 15 to 30 minutes before it's hacked or compromised in some way or another.

How Do Hackers Do it?

Although this section of this article could be a book in itself (and will be), hackers have many tools available to them to perform their tasks.  Many of these tools are available free on the Internet.  You just need to know what you are looking for and where to look for it.
When hackers find new ways to break into computers or defeat certain security measures they will often write automated tools they can then use and distribute to other hackers.  Again, many of these tools are available on the Internet and just about anyone can use them.
In many cases, because of the lack of security, many hackers don't need special tools to access your computer.  The Operating System and the commands that are available may be all the hacker needs to remotely access your computer.
Remember, although it is not possible to configure most systems to be 100% secure, there are many steps that you can take, some simple and others drastic, to create a deterrence.  Hackers, unless they have the motivation, no limit on time, and no limit on cash, will typically search for the easiest target!
Don't give them the opportunity!

Why Should I be Concerned?

As you can see above, there are many reasons to be concern.  As a home user or small business, you should be diligent and protect yourself.  This does not mean that you should consume yourself with these efforts.  You should be diligent in your actions.  Taken even the most basic actions to secure your computers can help.

• Protect information about your identity;
• Use strong passwords when setting up user accounts;
• Change your passwords on a frequent basis and don't give them out to anyone;
• Update you computers Operating System with patches;
• Install Anti-Virus software and keep it up-to-date;
• If you do not have a hardware Firewall install a personal Firewall (The latest versions of Windows XP has a basic Firewall built in);
• Install Anti-Adware / Spy-ware software and keep it up-to-date;
• Don't assume that since the computer you use at home is just a home computer that you don't need a password to access it.  Especially if you are using Wireless Networking (That's a whole other story).

Conclusion

As you can see, everyone should be concerned about securing there computers against the potential of compromise of being hacked.  Believe me, you don't want to find yourself trying to figure out what to do next once your system has been compromised.  It is not a pleasant experience.

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What is Ethical Hacking: An Introduction

Ethical Hacking: An Introduction

Whenever term hacker comes before many people consider it as a guy sitting inside a room or garage with a bottle or beer and a Laptop or Desktop doing wonders on click of buttons. But the reality check is hacking is not that easy as portrayed in movies and television and term hacker doesn't mean a computer criminal.

So here first of all we'll clear all our misconceptions related to words hackers and hacking.

From Where This Word Came:

The word hacking has history in late 1960's, the time when computers were nothing but mighty pieces of machines and a computer just meant a machine that can compute. Electrical and Electronics geeks used to optimize circuits to make any system/circuit work faster, better and reliably. The job they used to do on circuits was known as hack. With time computer geeks also started finding way out to optimize their system to work better so in fact hacking was nothing but always a kind of reverse engineering. With time in professional world a word hacker got meaning, a person who is highly skilled in hardware, software and networking components. Then movies started portraying hackers do only dirty works and hence today the word hacker has a negative face according to people. No matter how the word met to a dreadful end a hacker always had all qualities that was first put forward in its definition may the be criminal or ethical. Criminal hackers are also known as Crackers.

Types Of Hackers:

White Hats: White hat hackers are good guys who use their hacking skills for defensive purposes. Organizations and industries pay them high salaries to protect their systems and networks from intrusion.

Black Hats: Black hats are actually bad guys in filed. Their main job is to breach security and make money. They make money by using their hacking skills for offensive purposes.

Grey Hats: Gray hats are hackers who work for offensive and defensive purposes depending on situations. They are hired by people to intrude and protect systems.

Hactivist: A hacktivist is kinda hacker who thinks hacking can bring out some social changes and hacks government and organizations to show his discomfort over some trivial issues.

Suicide Hackers: Suicide hackers are those who hack for some purpose and even don't bother to suffer long term jail due to their activities. They can be bad as well as good.

Script Kiddie: A script kiddie is a person who boasts breaking system using scripts and codes written by others though he hardly knows what the code does.

Phreak: It is a person who tries to intrude systems for fun or malicious personal activities. Mostly they are children of age 12-15 who don't even know wrong consequences of hacking.

Types Of Hacking:

Local Hacking: This type of hacking is done when a hacker has full access to the system to implant a virus, keylogger and RATs

Remote Hacking: Remote hacking is done on a remote system using Internet.

Social Engineering: Social Engineering is kinda interacting skill that a hacker uses to manipulate people giving out sensitive information. Its kinda trick done using good verbal, social skills and understanding.

Terminologies Used Under Hacking:

Threat: A threat is an environment or situation that could lead to a potential breach of security. Ethical hackers look for and prioritize threats when performing a security analysis.

An Exploit: An exploit is a piece of software that takes advantage of a bug, glitch, or vulnerability, leading to unauthorized access, privilege escalation, or denial of service on a computer system.

Vulnerability: A vulnerability is an existence of a software flaw, logic design, or implementation error that can lead to an unexpected and undesirable event executing bad or damaging instructions to the system. In easy word vulnerability is weakness in system.

Payload: Payload is agent that helps in taking advantage of vulnerability in remote hacking.

Attack: An attack occurs when a system is compromised based on a vulnerability.

Types Of Attack:

1.Operating System Attack

2.Application level Attack

3.Shrink Wrap Code Attack

4.Misconfiguration Attack

Operating system attack is attack done on specific type of OS. Such attack is done using flaws in programs and services shipped with OS. Application level attack is done over faulty coding practices done over software during its development. Shrink Wrap Code attack are attacks done over UN-refined scripts used for making task simpler. Last is misconfiguration attack, it is kinda attack which is done over mis-configured system or a system with default settings.

Work Of An Ethical Hacker:

Job of an ethical hacker is to use all his skills and tools used by malicious hackers to find vulnerabilities in system and then provide it security against those vulnerabilities.

Conclusion: At last what I want to tell, nothing happens in clicks of buttons. A hacker is highly skilled person in field of computing who usually have ample knowledge about software, hardware, OS, networking and programming. A hacker may it be criminal or ethical has immense patience, determination, organization, discipline and persistence. An attacker may spend months of time planning, analyzing and executing an attack. This shows his level of dedication to achieve whatever goal he/she has set. A person can never become a good hacker unless he have all above qualities.

Note: Now onwards we will cover hacking as our main stream topic on this blog. Real hacking is never done over lamers who hardly knows about security, it is done over a person who is highly skilled as you are. You can never learn hacking until you do some practical and gain knowledge about field so now onwards I urge you to perform practicals that will be now posted on this blog on your own system. Next no tutorial will be taken as a lamer so they will be in possible higher details, so this may happen that you may not understand something. Rather than keeping yourself mum I plea you to please ask whenever you encounter a problem or get bothered by topic. Whenever I 'll post on hacking I 'll try to keep a theoretical and one practical tutorial, you are requested to read both and grasp matter completely. Thanks for visiting and please tell are you clear with all points discussed or need some explanation on your difficulty.

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How to create a Facebook cover photo on your Android device

Finding the perfect cover photo for your Facebook Timeline while on the go seems near impossible. Using an Android app, you can upload and create your Facebook cover photo directly from your Android device.
Shortly after posting about how to create a Facebook cover photo on the iPhone, I found an Android app that allows you to create and upload a cover photo straight from an Android device.
The app, Facebook Timeline Covers: D33P, is free. Once you upload your cover photo creation, however, it will be stamped with a watermark promoting the app. Let's take a look at how the app works.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani)

The app has a straightforward approach; after launching and allowing the app to access your Facebook account, you cap tap on either the blank cover photo or profile picture to choose which section you would like to edit.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani )

You can browse some user-generated cover photos, or take a photo from your Facebook News Feed, a photo from either your or your friends' Facebook photos, or a photo from your Android device.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani )

Once you've chosen your cover photo and/or a profile picture, you're allowed to preview what it will look like as a finished product on Facebook (minus the watermark, which is conveniently not shown until after you upload your cover photo).

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani )

You will need to log in to your Facebook account, view the album(s) the app has created for you, and set the newly uploaded photos as either your cover or profile picture, respectively.
A word to the wise: if you aren't going to change your profile picture, just leave the profile pic section blank in the app. If you don't, you will have a new album created with your profile picture being duplicated each time you upload a cover.

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Facebook Layouts - How to Change Facebook Theme?

Unlike other social networking sites like Orkut, Twitter and Myspace, Facebook has not officially released features for changing your Profile Theme. Whether you like or not, you need to adjust yourself with the default theme. But using Firefox and installing add-on, you can customize the looks, colours and theme of your Facebook Profile. This however is visible only to you and not your friends.

I have got two ways of changing your Facebook profile theme. One is using the Greasemonkey Add-on and the other using the Stylish add-on. Here is how you can change your theme using either of these two:

1)Using Greasemonkey Add-on:

• First ensure you are using Firefox browser and then install the Greasemonkey Add-on.
• Restart firefox and Visit this page with lots of Themes.
• Click on the favorite theme you like and install the script.
• After you load facebook.com you can view the change the Facebook theme.

2) Using Stylish Add-on:

• Ensure you are using Firefox and then install the Stylish Add-on.
• Restart Firefox and repeat the process as shown in Using Greasemonkey Add-on

Apart from scripts in above listed site, you can check out these sites for other themes:
1) Some themes on Userscripts.org.
2) Facebook Fixer which enhances facebook with bigger picture, download viedeo options and more.
About Stylish Add-On

This is the Ferrari theme. More themes are available for you to choose.

Requirement: The basic requirement for this to work is to have Mozilla Firefox 3.5 or higher.

Steps to achieve this: The following steps should be carried out to successfully change Facebook theme.

1. Open Mozilla Firefox and install 'Stylish' addon.
2. Follow the basic steps to install the addon.
3. Restart Firefox after successfully installing the Stylish addon.
4. Login to your Facebook Account and click on the small 'S' button in your Firefox status bar.
5. Click on "Find Styles for this Site" to open a new tab with free themes to use for Facebook.
6. Click on any theme and a preview will be shown.
7. If everything is fine in the previewed theme, click on "Install with Stylish" button at the top right corner of the page.
8. A dialog box will open.
9. Click on Install in the dialog box.

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO CLICK ON SUBSCRIBE BUTTON GIVEN BELOW.

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How to make good use of Google+'s Circles

I was going to write more about the nuts and bolts ofGoogle+, but that's changing so fast that I've decided to hold off on that for now. Instead, I want to share with you what I've found out so far about how to make the most from Google+'s circles.

Let me start with the basics. Google circles are a way of organizing the people you choose to follow on Google+. People can add you to their circles, but they'll only see your posts that you choose to make public, unless you add them to one or more of your circles.

So, for example, if you post "I really like Spotify [the new online music service]" to the public, everyone who has you in one of their circles can see it. If you post it to your "Friends" circle only the people you've placed in your Friends circle will be able to read it.

The reverse is also true. Let's say you really don't want to see all of great aunt Tillie's pictures of her prize winning Siamese cats. You just read your Friends circle' stream of messages instead of your Family circle's stream.

You're also in charge of how much other information other people can see about you based on your circle. So, for example, you can set your circles so that only "Friends" and "Family" can see your phone number.

In any case, no one but you knows who's in your circles or which circles you've placed them in. So, you'll know that your annoying uncle Joe has been placed in the circle "Ugly Relatives," but no else will.

What all this adds up to is control. Unlike Facebook, where pretty much anyone your friends with can see everything you post, Google+ gives you fine control of who sees what and what you see.

My friend and fellow journalist Mike Elgan, has proposed what I think is a really useful overall way of looking at circles. Elgan's taxonomy of Google+ circles goes like this:

Instead of saying, "I'm going to write a blog post now," or "I'm going to send an e-mail" or "I think I'll tweet something" you simply say what you have to say, then decide who you're going to say it to.

If you address it to "Public," it's a blog post.

If you address it to "Your Circles" it's a tweet.

If you address it to your "My Customers" Circle it's a business newsletter.

If you address it to a single person, it can be a letter to your mother.

That's a darn good start. Now let's refine it.

If you're addressing something to the public, it doesn't have to be a blog post. It can be anything that you think is interesting and you want to share with the world.

Just keep in mind that if you want to keep people reading your words show some sense about what you post. For example, I can already tell you that a lot of Google+ users are already sick and tired of animated GIF graphics-no matter how cute they are.

You can divide up "Your Circles" in several ways. The basics, as I see it are: personal; work; and interests. A personal circle is just what it sounds like: Friends, Close Friends, and Family. You get the idea.

Work circles get more interesting. You could have everyone in your company in a circle; your workgroup in another, the guys you're plotting to take over the company with another... oh did I say that?

Or, you can have work circles of business partners, press who cover your company, or customers. That's what the CEO of Seesmic, a social media company, did for Salesforce. This Google+ Salesforce experiment appears to have worked very well indeed.

I can see this working in other ways. Perhaps a customer support circle in addition to your other customer support forums? Or, you could also try Google+'s Hangouts, Google Plus' built-in video-conferencing, for business meetings or technical support. The last isn't my idea by the way, It's Michael Dell's, CEO of Dell, notion.

Dell, I might add, has floated this idea in his public circle. So, it seems to both myself and Mr. Dell that you can also use business circles for basic marketing research.

Last, but not least, you can set up circles by interests. Want to hang out with your colleagues? Listen to other people who like Shih-Tzu dogs, like yours truly and Bill Gates? Suffer with fellow Chicago Cub fans? Just find like-minded people and set up a circle.

At the moment, Google+ circles aren't ideal for interest circles. For example, if you were to follow me in a dog-lovers circle, I might only mention pups once every other day or two. It's my understanding though that Google intends on making it easier to post by topics. I certainly hope they do.

I'm only touching the surface of what can be done with Google Circles here. In part, I'm doing this because I'm still getting the hang of this myself. The other part is that Google is far from done with circles yet. You can expect big changes in circles in the next few weeks.

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How to make good use of Google+'s Circles

I was going to write more about the nuts and bolts ofGoogle+, but that's changing so fast that I've decided to hold off on that for now. Instead, I want to share with you what I've found out so far about how to make the most from Google+'s circles.

Let me start with the basics. Google circles are a way of organizing the people you choose to follow on Google+. People can add you to their circles, but they'll only see your posts that you choose to make public, unless you add them to one or more of your circles.

So, for example, if you post "I really like Spotify [the new online music service]" to the public, everyone who has you in one of their circles can see it. If you post it to your "Friends" circle only the people you've placed in your Friends circle will be able to read it.

The reverse is also true. Let's say you really don't want to see all of great aunt Tillie's pictures of her prize winning Siamese cats. You just read your Friends circle' stream of messages instead of your Family circle's stream.

You're also in charge of how much other information other people can see about you based on your circle. So, for example, you can set your circles so that only "Friends" and "Family" can see your phone number.

In any case, no one but you knows who's in your circles or which circles you've placed them in. So, you'll know that your annoying uncle Joe has been placed in the circle "Ugly Relatives," but no else will.

What all this adds up to is control. Unlike Facebook, where pretty much anyone your friends with can see everything you post, Google+ gives you fine control of who sees what and what you see.

My friend and fellow journalist Mike Elgan, has proposed what I think is a really useful overall way of looking at circles. Elgan's taxonomy of Google+ circles goes like this:

Instead of saying, "I'm going to write a blog post now," or "I'm going to send an e-mail" or "I think I'll tweet something" you simply say what you have to say, then decide who you're going to say it to.

If you address it to "Public," it's a blog post.

If you address it to "Your Circles" it's a tweet.

If you address it to your "My Customers" Circle it's a business newsletter.

If you address it to a single person, it can be a letter to your mother.

That's a darn good start. Now let's refine it.

If you're addressing something to the public, it doesn't have to be a blog post. It can be anything that you think is interesting and you want to share with the world.

Just keep in mind that if you want to keep people reading your words show some sense about what you post. For example, I can already tell you that a lot of Google+ users are already sick and tired of animated GIF graphics-no matter how cute they are.

You can divide up "Your Circles" in several ways. The basics, as I see it are: personal; work; and interests. A personal circle is just what it sounds like: Friends, Close Friends, and Family. You get the idea.

Work circles get more interesting. You could have everyone in your company in a circle; your workgroup in another, the guys you're plotting to take over the company with another... oh did I say that?

Or, you can have work circles of business partners, press who cover your company, or customers. That's what the CEO of Seesmic, a social media company, did for Salesforce. This Google+ Salesforce experiment appears to have worked very well indeed.

I can see this working in other ways. Perhaps a customer support circle in addition to your other customer support forums? Or, you could also try Google+'s Hangouts, Google Plus' built-in video-conferencing, for business meetings or technical support. The last isn't my idea by the way, It's Michael Dell's, CEO of Dell, notion.

Dell, I might add, has floated this idea in his public circle. So, it seems to both myself and Mr. Dell that you can also use business circles for basic marketing research.

Last, but not least, you can set up circles by interests. Want to hang out with your colleagues? Listen to other people who like Shih-Tzu dogs, like yours truly and Bill Gates? Suffer with fellow Chicago Cub fans? Just find like-minded people and set up a circle.

At the moment, Google+ circles aren't ideal for interest circles. For example, if you were to follow me in a dog-lovers circle, I might only mention pups once every other day or two. It's my understanding though that Google intends on making it easier to post by topics. I certainly hope they do.

I'm only touching the surface of what can be done with Google Circles here. In part, I'm doing this because I'm still getting the hang of this myself. The other part is that Google is far from done with circles yet. You can expect big changes in circles in the next few weeks.

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How to make good use of Google+'s Circles

I was going to write more about the nuts and bolts ofGoogle+, but that's changing so fast that I've decided to hold off on that for now. Instead, I want to share with you what I've found out so far about how to make the most from Google+'s circles.

Let me start with the basics. Google circles are a way of organizing the people you choose to follow on Google+. People can add you to their circles, but they'll only see your posts that you choose to make public, unless you add them to one or more of your circles.

So, for example, if you post "I really like Spotify [the new online music service]" to the public, everyone who has you in one of their circles can see it. If you post it to your "Friends" circle only the people you've placed in your Friends circle will be able to read it.

The reverse is also true. Let's say you really don't want to see all of great aunt Tillie's pictures of her prize winning Siamese cats. You just read your Friends circle' stream of messages instead of your Family circle's stream.

You're also in charge of how much other information other people can see about you based on your circle. So, for example, you can set your circles so that only "Friends" and "Family" can see your phone number.

In any case, no one but you knows who's in your circles or which circles you've placed them in. So, you'll know that your annoying uncle Joe has been placed in the circle "Ugly Relatives," but no else will.

What all this adds up to is control. Unlike Facebook, where pretty much anyone your friends with can see everything you post, Google+ gives you fine control of who sees what and what you see.

My friend and fellow journalist Mike Elgan, has proposed what I think is a really useful overall way of looking at circles. Elgan's taxonomy of Google+ circles goes like this:

Instead of saying, "I'm going to write a blog post now," or "I'm going to send an e-mail" or "I think I'll tweet something" you simply say what you have to say, then decide who you're going to say it to.

If you address it to "Public," it's a blog post.

If you address it to "Your Circles" it's a tweet.

If you address it to your "My Customers" Circle it's a business newsletter.

If you address it to a single person, it can be a letter to your mother.

That's a darn good start. Now let's refine it.

If you're addressing something to the public, it doesn't have to be a blog post. It can be anything that you think is interesting and you want to share with the world.

Just keep in mind that if you want to keep people reading your words show some sense about what you post. For example, I can already tell you that a lot of Google+ users are already sick and tired of animated GIF graphics-no matter how cute they are.

You can divide up "Your Circles" in several ways. The basics, as I see it are: personal; work; and interests. A personal circle is just what it sounds like: Friends, Close Friends, and Family. You get the idea.

Work circles get more interesting. You could have everyone in your company in a circle; your workgroup in another, the guys you're plotting to take over the company with another... oh did I say that?

Or, you can have work circles of business partners, press who cover your company, or customers. That's what the CEO of Seesmic, a social media company, did for Salesforce. This Google+ Salesforce experiment appears to have worked very well indeed.

I can see this working in other ways. Perhaps a customer support circle in addition to your other customer support forums? Or, you could also try Google+'s Hangouts, Google Plus' built-in video-conferencing, for business meetings or technical support. The last isn't my idea by the way, It's Michael Dell's, CEO of Dell, notion.

Dell, I might add, has floated this idea in his public circle. So, it seems to both myself and Mr. Dell that you can also use business circles for basic marketing research.

Last, but not least, you can set up circles by interests. Want to hang out with your colleagues? Listen to other people who like Shih-Tzu dogs, like yours truly and Bill Gates? Suffer with fellow Chicago Cub fans? Just find like-minded people and set up a circle.

At the moment, Google+ circles aren't ideal for interest circles. For example, if you were to follow me in a dog-lovers circle, I might only mention pups once every other day or two. It's my understanding though that Google intends on making it easier to post by topics. I certainly hope they do.

I'm only touching the surface of what can be done with Google Circles here. In part, I'm doing this because I'm still getting the hang of this myself. The other part is that Google is far from done with circles yet. You can expect big changes in circles in the next few weeks.

Read More